Elderly man fined for bringing machete to police station

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An elderly man, who visited the Denham Town Police Station armed with a machete, escaped the maximum sentence for his offence when he appeared in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on Monday.

The accused, Vernon Myrie, pleaded guilty to the charge of being armed with an offensive weapon in a public place.

According to the police report, Myrie visited the station to file a report, however, when he approached the officers, they observed a machete tucked in his waistband.

In court, the senior citizen sought to explain the circumstances surrounding the situation.

"I was chopping grass with the machete and some boys was stoning me, so me stop and put it in my waistband to go to the police station to report it [the incident]," Myrie said.

On hearing the explanation, Resident Magistrate Shancia Burrell was moved to issue a reduced sentence.

Instead of the maximum fine of $5,000 or 30 days' imprisonment, Burrell ordered Myrie to pay $1,000 or serve 10 days for his offence.

In justifying her ruling, Burrell said, "He [Vernon] went to the station to report an incident which occurred while he was using the machete, so that explains why he was there with the weapon in the first place."